What counts as “good”? This question gets at the heart of engaging in productive conversations as we describe effective literacy instruction. We explore that inquiry in this episode with Rachael Gabriel and Sarah Woulfin, authors of Making Teacher Evaluation Work: A Guide for Literacy Teachers and Leaders (Heinemann, 2017).

Zip06.com (Neag School alumnus Craig Cooke is featured)

In addition to becoming crucial for financial and social well-being, creativity has psychological benefits. James Kaufman from the University of Connecticut examined how creativity has a potential to contribute to past, present, and future meaning-making. Past-focused meaning making involves finding ways to successfully cope with challenging experiences, such as trauma, regret, or nostalgia-provoking events.

UConn alumna Truth Hunter was awarded a four-year doctoral scholarship from the University of Connecticut’s Neag School of Education. Hunter is a promising new Ph.D. candidate who arrived on the UConn Storrs campus knowing she will have four years of fully funded support.

Troup middle school teacher Rashana (Wilson) Graham is feeling calm again. After a turbulent and uncertain summer, remote school is set to start Thursday. And she’s ready. New Haven Public Schools teachers like Graham spent most of the past few months trying to plan to teach in-person, online or through a hybrid of the two.

CSCH Program Manager Helene Marcy interviews CSCH Affiliate Jesse Mala about his research looking at the relationship between sport & physical activity and working memory and perceptions of school climate among youth living in poverty.

“Connecticut is far from the only state diverting school decisions to the local level. With few mandates coming from the federal government, most states are taking a similarly flexible approach to COVID mandates, leaving decisions up to individual districts,” said Sarah Woulfin, associate professor at UConn’s Neag School of Education.

We honored Jessica Raugitinane in 2012 when she was an undergraduate at UConn’s Neag School of Education. She earned her master’s degree in 2014 and has been teaching dual-language English and social studies at Mount Vernon Community School in Alexandria, Va., for several years.

Todd Campbell, one of the Neag instructors, tweeted that in the first session, forty participants recorded 112 data points from across the state in less than twenty minutes.

“In Connecticut, college students have been asked to step in as substitutes,” said Michele Femc-Bagwell, director of the teacher education program at the University of Connecticut. “The school has been getting requests to use fifth-year graduate students as substitute teachers. Heavy class loads and internship responsibilities, though, limit their availability to one day a week.”